I caught the seventh episode of the Amazing Race 17 last night. They stayed in mother Russia and made their way to a circus. A detour of music or spinning plates were presented. From there, they made their way to a bridge for the next clue. They had to find a tower for a clue to the location of the next clue. From there, they made their way to the roadblock for a pin game. The pitstop awaits them after this.

Michael and KevJumba came in . . . 6th or 7th? Because Team Jumba used the taxi twice when they were not suppose to, they were incurred two 30 minute penalties and eliminated from the race. This time around, the groups were a little more ruthless with each other. Nick and Vicki are officially the “hated” team now. So, all forces to Nat and Kat FTW!

Nat and Kat kicked some major but and got first! If Nick and Vicki didn’t piggie back with them, they’d prolly be in the bottom 3. I hope they get eliminated next. But that would be awkward at the elimination station.

Nat and Kat! First female team for the WIN! Nerds rule!

I caught the sixth episode of the Amazing Race 17 last night. The teams had to make it via train to an airport from Norway that took them to St. Petersburg. The teams were presented a detour of music or movies. From there they moved to a field to plant some potatoes. They would finish the race at a field.

Michael and KevJumba would finish … 3rd! So close to be first though. It’s funny that they highlighted an idea from Michael being rejected as the reason they were not first. Maybe they could have been first or was it a little bit of TV magic. Well, they are still in the race!

Nat and Kat had a little luck on their side and made it to the finish line in … 4th! No bad taxis or wrong directions. Just a little hiccup at the detour challenge. But a lot of luck too.

Gary and Mallory had a little bit of trouble this week and took a step back into 2nd last. Luckily, no one was eliminated.

I caught the fifth episode of the Amazing Race 17 last night. They went from Sweden to Norway. The first task was to find the border to get the first clue. From there, the team that decided to do the fast forward would have to eat half the meat from a cooked sheep head. The others teams had to repel down and up a bridge for a clue. After that, they were presented a detour, bike or boat. After the detour, they had to find their way to the pit stop.

Michael and son, KevJumba came in … 4th again! They could have been 2nd if they had did the more physical detour task and if they didn’t get lost going to the pitstop. Nat and Kat didn’t get lost, they didn’t stumble and came in first, with the help of the fast forward! Gary and Mallory came in second again.

For the teams at the end, I can’t really say I like them much. They have all shown moments of great dislike. This week, the two gals that called TeamJumba, “the azns” got the boot. Very nice. And they continued their sore loser status at the elimination station with very little class. They better stick to volleyball.

The Karate Kid (The Kung Fu Dream/功夫夢) is a 2010 film starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. The film is a revamp of the iconic 1984 film that starred Ralph Macchio and the late Pat Morita. The movie is based in Detroit and with the majority, in Beijing, China.

The Cast
Jaden Smith – Dre Parker – The Kung Fu Kid
Jackie Chan – Mr. Han – The Kung Fu teacher
Taraji P. Henson – Sherry Parker – Dre’s mother
Zhenwei Wang – Cheng – The Bully
Yu Rongguang – Master Li – The Bully’s Master
Wen Wen Han – Mei Ying – Dre’s crush

The Story
Dre, a twelve year old, moves to Beijing, China with his mom. Dre befriends a blond dood in his building and they play some pick up ball at a park adjacent to his apartment building. Mei Ying is also at the park studying her music notes and catches the attention of Dre. Dre gets up the courage to talk to her and starts to impress her. Cheng enters the picture and beats up Dre pretty bad, leaving him with a black eye as a souvenir. The next day, at school, Dre bumps into both Mei Ying and Cheng again. This time, things get worst as he’s bullied even more. Dre starts to avoid Cheng and his cohorts. One day, Dre is chased down and beaten badly before Han steps in to rescue him. The next day, the two go to make amends with Cheng at his school. However, Master Li wants to challenge Han on the spot. Han suggest that they settle the score at an upcoming Kung Fu tournament. From that point on, Dre spends everyday training with Han. As a learning experience, Han takes Dre to Wudang Mountains. It is there that Dre sees a women have a stare down with a cobra. Back in Beijing, Mei Ying and Dre become closer and closer and eventually kiss at a festival. On the day before Mei Ying recital, Dre leads her to cut school for a day to relax. They travel around to various places in Beijing. Mei Ying’s recital has been changed to the current day and she is picked up and shuttled back to school. The results of her recital were not reveals or I just don’t remember. But her parents force her to cut off her friendship with Dre. Dre finds out about Han’s wife and son on the anniversary of their death. Dre helps Han to find reason to move on. They continue to train for the tournament. Mei Ying shows up during the day of the tournament to cheer on Dre. What do you think happens from here on out? ^_^

My Thoughts
The movie was actually pretty enjoyable. It was a pleasant surprise because the original one from 1984 and its sequel in 1986 have this special place in my heart, as it presented asians on screen when there were very little representation. It hasn’t gotten much better 25 years later, but its still a reminder. In this case, dood is in China. China! The story featured twelve year olds having the hots for each other and that freaked me out. Because my daughters are not that far off from that. Urgh.

The settings and the use of landmarks in Beijing and Wudong Shan were pretty amazing. I though it was great to see how ex-pats can function in China. They did have to use a little karate as Dre was trying to learn it when Han comes to fix his door knob.

In all, this is a movie I’ll have to watch with my daughter(s) someday. I think this version is slightly more editable than the 80s versions for her.

BTW – got this as a $1 rental at a Red Box.

Ong Bak 3 (拳霸終極篇) is a 2010 film out of Thailand. The movie stars international martial arts superstar Tony Jaa. The movie is a sequel to Ong Bak 2. The first Ong Bak is unrelated.

The movie takes place right after Tien is captured at the end of the previous film. Tien is tortured and badly injured. Tien’s hands, wrist, knees, and legs are all damaged from the torture. On the eve of his beheading, he is taken to a village where they bring him back to life. Tien gets back to health and is driven by bad people to fight again. Pretty easy plot to follow.

This movie was a major disappointment. Where the first 2 Ong Bak films focused on action and sher power of Tony Jaa, this installment dives into dark magic and curses. It was quite puzzling to see all this magic mumble jumble. If this kind of magic was around, why wait until the 3rd to use it. Lame. The fighting wasn’t up to pair vs. the second installment.

I caught the fourth episode of the Amazing Race 17 last night. They stayed in Ghana to help paint the school. They eventually had to make their way to Kiruna Sweden to the Ice Palace. KevJumba and dad had to do a speed bump, 10 minutes on some ice chairs. Pretty easy bump this early in the race. Once they got to the palace, they had to find some dogs to sled and than to a train station. Where they have a detour. Sleds or beds. Than they have to get to the Norwegian border.

KevJumba and dad were… 4th! Nat and Kat were 1st! Gary and Mallory were 2nd.

This episode, the physical aspect really kept KevJumba and dad from first. On the detour, they opted for the longer tasks because a 2 minute course would have caused trouble for Michael. Nat and Kat! These two ladies seem to get into trouble on all their tasks, but they came out on top today!

There are a lot of cover artist on YouTube. Search for any song you might like that’s popular and you got quite a few people covering it. Some are good and some suck. For the most part, most are forgettable. I shared one of my favorites a few months back in Afraid of Everest aka Singindork888 and aozorafantasii.

Recently, a Taiwanese lady covered one of my favorite songs of all time, Bizarre Love Triangle. However, she credits it as Frente who covered it from New Order. The New Order version brings back fond memories of growing up the 80s. When the Frente version came out while I was in college, it seemed to spark the New Wave cover trend of the 90s. Because, 80s new wave is awesome.

Anyways, back to the cover artist named 阿福 (Ah Fu). 阿福’s rendition of BLT was way too short at just around 2 minutes. I would have liked another minute. But the Frente version was shorter than the New Order version, so, I can understand it. But 阿福’s rendition is one of my favorites from the YouTube cover artist around. And for good measure, the “fobbiness” of her English made the song super cute too. Which reminds me of my 2 year old that has a Fob accent when she speaks English. My five year grew out of that phase when she started pre-school and started speaking English regularly.

阿福, good luck and please post more covers along with OG ones. Below are some more clips from her.

陽陽 (Yang Yang) is a 2009 film out of Taiwan. The movie stars Sandrine Pinna. Supporting cast include Bryant Chang, Huang Chien-Wei, and He Si-Hui.

Sandra Pinna plays Yang Yang, a high school track student. The film starts with Yang Yang’s mother getting married to her high school track coach. The coach also has a daughter of the same age, Xiao-Ru, and they move into the same house. Xiao-Ru’s boyfriend Shawn likes Yang Yang more and gets a one time intimate exchange. Yang Yang doesn’t want to rock the boat at home and is very cold to Shawn’s advances after. Xiao-Ru finds out and adds steroids to Yang Yang’s water before a competition. Yang Yang is disqualified and leaves her home for a life in the entertainment. Yang is no ordinary teenage Taiwanese high school student. Yang is half-french and that brings her special attention. Specifically in the Taiwanese entertainment industry.

The movie was all over the place and the gorilla film footage was dizzying at times. The themes of the film was of the struggle of a mixed race person in Taiwan. People have automatic assumptions when they meet them. Here in LA, a mixed race person is very common. So it may be no big deal here, but still a big deal in Taiwan. The ABC factor was huge in the 90s and 00s. Recently, the novelty of ABCs in Taiwan has started to ware out. Because its so common in the entertainment industry now vs. 10 to 20 years ago.

Should you watch the movie? Yes if you like to see a slice of life Taiwan life and how mixed race interaction is. No if you’re looking for an enjoyable ride. The movie was a downer and the decisions for the characters were a little perplexing.

劍雨 (Reign Of Assassins) is a 2010 film. The film is a joint production of companies from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The film stars Michelle Yeoh and Jung Woo-sung. The supporting cast include Wang Xueqi, Barbie Hsu, Shawn Yue, Leon Dai, Kelly Lin, and Pace Wu. The movie is directed by Su Chao-pin. Parts of the movie were co-directed by John Woo.

The Cast
Michelle Yeoh as Zeng Ching
Jung Woo-sung as Jiang Ah-sheng
Wang Xueqi as The Wheel King
Barbie Hsu as Zhan Qiang
Shawn Yue as Lei Bin
Leon Dai as The Magician
Pace Wu as Kongdong Blue Sword
Kelly Lin as Drizzle
Chin Shih-Chieh as Doctor Li
Calvin Li as Wisdom
Angeles Woo – Eater Bear (John Woo’s Daughter)
Jiang Yiyan – Lei Bin’s Wife

The Story
A monk from India masters the highest level of martial arts. His remains are cut in half and a prized possession. If you have his body, you can also learn the highest forms of martial arts. Because of this, theres a scramble to get it whenever a rumor is confirmed. The Dark Stone gang is a group of assassins that blackmail people with power. When the upper half the monk’s body appears, they go after it. In the heat of the battle, Drizzle of the Dark Stone gang takes off with the remains and disappears. Drizzle meets up with a soon to be monk in Wisdom. Wisdom tries to calm the evil in Drizzle and shows her flaws in her technique. However, Drizzle falls for Wisdom and kills him. Devastated, Drizzle gets a face lift and is now Zeng Ching, a fabrics merchant. Zeng eventually marries again to a absent minded foot guy named Ah Sheng. However, peace doesn’t last long as the Zeng is found and forced to deal with the past she wants to leave behind.

My Thoughts
This was a amazing wuxia swordplay film. It contained all the elements that I crave. A mystery, martial arts that impress. A strong cast of characters to flank the main characters. Character development is exposed in fragments for the bit players, but mainly reserved for the main stars.

The movie featured plenty of characters, but as I read through Michelle Yeoh’s website film page. It doesn’t seem like there was enough time to explore them all. Here’s to hoping that this develops into a wuxia drama in the future.

Pace Wu makes only a very brief appearance but her beauty stole the show during that time. Pace also ditches the makeup, but still look amazing.

I was a little afraid that it couldn’t live up to the hype, but it was a great film. I do have problems with the casting, but that can’t be helped if you follow the $$.

I caught the third episode of the Amazing Race 17 last night. The stayed in Ghana for the episode. They had to find a boxing academy and do some things, than get to a supply depot and deliver supplies to a school, where they had to place Ghana in the right place on a map. After that, they where given a detour to do a language or activity.

Kevin and Michael didn’t have the best taxis nor the best of luck. On two of the activities, they had to change course. And they finished last. LAST! But wait! This leg was not an elimination round! What?! That’s right, they have to do a speed bump next week, but who knows. They might still be in this.

Last week, I was high on Brook, but I totally dislike her now. They totally dissed Kevin. So lame since it wasn’t even a crucial point. But I did get on the Gary & Mallory bandwagon now. This father and daughter pair look like they can kick butt.

Nat & Kat don’t seem like they have a lot of luck. Taxis getting lost, taxis breaking down, getting lost, etc.

I want to hate Connor & Jonathan, but those fools blew away everyone in leg 3. Starting in sixth place, they were clam and collected and had the help of Samson on their side.